Is It Bad To Fall Asleep To Music?

Music plays a very big role in life. In some way, you can always relate to a song. Whether it is a love, hate, sad, or happy song, there is always one that can get you through the day. Music, in general, is a spirit lifter for myself. I love it so much that I use it to help me fall asleep.

I had come across something that claimed it was bad to fall asleep while listening to music, so naturally, I did some digging and found out the truth behind it. Are you intrigued? If so, follow me and I will explain the truth.

Please consult a physician for any medical advice.

What Does Music Do To Us?

“Music moves people of all cultures, in a way that doesn’t seem to happen with other animals. Nobody really understands why listening to music — which, unlike sex or food, has no intrinsic value — can trigger such profoundly rewarding experiences.”

Obviously we aren’t all going to have the same response to music, but we do have different reactions based on what our preferences are. So, when someone, such as myself, listens to music while they are sleeping and wake up feeling good vibes, one has to ask, is it healthy?

Falling Asleep To Music

In today’s technology filled world, some find it hard to fall asleep, especially if they are hooked on their cell phones either chatting or playing a game. When it comes time to close our eyes, it may seem impossible. This is when you should put down the phone and turn on the tunes.

Why, you ask? Studies have shown that listening to music while trying to fall asleep could be used as an alternative treatment for those who may suffer from PTSD and insomnia. Another study showed that classical music improved the quality of sleep in those who suffered from various sleep problems.

On the flip side, some researchers suggest that falling asleep to music has been known to cause an increase in heart rate resulting in wakefulness. In the end, it just depends on the person listening to it and whether they are use to those sounds or not.

Sleeping With Earbuds

I don’t know about you, but I can’t fall asleep with something stuck in my ears. It is uncomfortable and I would assume that they would fall out as I toss and turn. Although you may think this is a good idea, I must tell you, it isn’t and here is why.

Although they are minor, there are certain risks that come with sleeping with earphones or headphones in:

Necrosis of the skin-Necrosis is the death of body tissue. This can happen if the buds don’t fit well and cause pressure on the skin in the ear canal.

Wax Build up– When wax can’t escape from the ears, it builds up and may need to be suctioned out. Along with being really gross, it is also quite unhealthy.

Safety-When I say safety, I mean that if a smoke alarm goes off in the middle of the night and you have your earbuds in, you may not hear it, especially if they are noise cancelling earbuds.

Death– Not likely, but if you are wearing headphones with a cord, you could end up with them wrapped around your neck which could cut off your air supply.

In my own personal opinion, I don’t recommend sleeping with ear buds in. It can’t be very comfortable and I definitely wouldn’t risk necrosis of the ear skin, that just sounds painful.

The Safe Way To Listen

Since we have discovered that sleeping with music on is far from harmful, let me fill you in about the safe ways we can fall asleep while listening to our favorite tunes.

Use A Radio

If you are the only person sleeping in the room, listening to the radio rather than earbuds is your best bet.

Listen To The Television

If you don’t have a radio, which wouldn’t be surprising if you don’t given all of the alternative technology, simply turn on the television. If you have all of the good channels, it is likely that you have the music channels as well. Pop one of those on that suit your music taste and enjoy.

Headphones For Sleeping & Music

AcousticSheep SleepPhones

Bedphones Gen 3

Bedphones-Third Generation are headphones that have been designed for listening to music while sleeping. They are safe and aren’t uncomfortable if you are a side sleeper.

Although these headphones do have cords and there is always that risk of asphyxiation, the risk is low. The odds of that happening are probably just as likely as being struck by lightning (don’t quote me on that). If you think it could happen to you, simply don’t wear them to bed.

The Conclusion

So the bottom line here is that it is far from bad to fall asleep while listening to music. If anything, you may wake yourself up when your favorite 1980’s hairband jam comes on if you are anything like me.

If you aren’t accustomed to listening to music or are easily awoken by a sound, sleeping while listening probably isn’t the ideal thing for you. For me, I am used to noise all of the time so the music doesn’t bother me while I’m sleeping.

As stated earlier, listening to music has proven effects on those who suffer from many psychological and sleep related issues. If it has been known to help people with insomnia fall asleep, why couldn’t it help the average Joe fall asleep after a stressful day.

5 Comments

I’m here because last night I slept with earbuds in, and this morning, I woke up with a pretty bad fever, so now I’m wondering if there’s some correlation between the two. I just don’t want to get caught confusing causality and correlation. But suffice to say, I don’t think the earbuds were the cause, it’s probably caused by not wearing a sweater and going outside in the night…. yeah I think I’ve found the source of my problem.

I’ve been sleeping with earbuds in for years and haven’t had any problems. Its uncomfortable at first but you get use to it if you have some decent ones. It seems to be the only way that I can get my brain to shut off at night. I just set the music to play one time through the album and then shut off so it doesn’t play through the night. I set the music low, so emergency sounds really shouldn’t be a problem. My wife does not wish to fall asleep to death metal so playing through speakers really isn’t an option. I do get wax on my earbuds but it q-tips off pretty easily. My only real concern was with hearing loss and that wasn’t brought up so…

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